I’m on a personal mission: to pursue a lifestyle that not only teaches me to withstand experiences wrought with uncertainty and volatility, but to strengthen in spite of those. I can’t say I’m there quite yet, but traveling solo and without a plan more than a few days in advance is doing its best to bring me there.

My goal remains to use inexpensive means of travel to achieve particular trades, foreign language abilities, soft-skills, and self-development as an individual. These are the traits that are difficult to learn by a degree or in an online crash course—they are much better absorbed through throwing oneself wholly into life’s unpredictability.

A man can wander under many titles on the road, and I have collected my fair share lately.

Tuna fisherman, cow veterinarian, vineyard pruner, Argentinian property manager, Brazilian farmer, homeless hitchhiker, Amazonian journalist, stray dog caretaker, language instructor, chef for the Chilean diplomacy… and that’s just what I can list off the top of my head.

Of course, life experience wins over meager titles any day. To that I say, wait until you hear the stories that go along with them.